Method and apparatus for encapsulating services for transportation over metallic physical mediums
DCFirst Claim
1. A network device, comprising:
- a first plurality of line interface units interfaced with a first plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a first type of physical medium, said first type of physical medium comprising a combination of a first type of metallic link and a first physical layer protocol, said first plurality of line interface units outputting first signals received via the first type of physical medium;
a first framer associated with the first plurality of line interface units and specific to the first type of physical medium, said first framer receiving the first signals output from the first plurality of line interface units and reconstructing first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol;
a first universal frame mapper associated with the first framer, said first universal frame mapper receiving the first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol and reassembling first universal frames for processing by the network device;
a second plurality of line interface units interfaced with a second plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a second type of physical medium, said second type of physical medium comprising a combination of a second type of metallic link and a second physical layer protocol, said second plurality of line interface units outputting second signals received via the second type of physical medium;
a second framer associated with the second plurality of line interface units and specific to the second type of physical medium, said second framer receiving the second signals output from the second plurality of line interface units and reconstructing second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol; and
a second universal frame mapper associated with the second framer, said second universal frame mapper receiving the second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol and assembling second universal frames for processing in common with the first universal frames by the network device;
an optical line interface unit interfaced with an optical transmission medium; and
switching circuitry interconnected between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers to switch Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) frames between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers.
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Abstract
A network element employing a universal mapper enables multiple services to be mapped onto a physical medium (metallic link with a particular physical layer protocol) so that the number of service mappers, and hence the complexity of the network element, may be reduced, the cost of provisioning the device may be reduced, and new services may be deployed, such as Ethernet over T1. The universal mapper may be configured to generate frames for transmission over multiple physical mediums utilizing a protocol known as Generic Framing Procedure (GFP). Using this embodiment, services such as ATM, Frame Relay, Ethernet, IP/PPP, Voice, and Infiniband may be transported in GFP frames over metallic links operating using xDSL, T1/E1, T3/E3, or cable access technologies by utilizing a single GFP framer and a single set of service mappers.
8 Citations
13 Claims
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1. A network device, comprising:
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a first plurality of line interface units interfaced with a first plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a first type of physical medium, said first type of physical medium comprising a combination of a first type of metallic link and a first physical layer protocol, said first plurality of line interface units outputting first signals received via the first type of physical medium; a first framer associated with the first plurality of line interface units and specific to the first type of physical medium, said first framer receiving the first signals output from the first plurality of line interface units and reconstructing first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol; a first universal frame mapper associated with the first framer, said first universal frame mapper receiving the first frames formatted according to the first physical layer protocol and reassembling first universal frames for processing by the network device; a second plurality of line interface units interfaced with a second plurality of subscriber premises equipment over a second type of physical medium, said second type of physical medium comprising a combination of a second type of metallic link and a second physical layer protocol, said second plurality of line interface units outputting second signals received via the second type of physical medium; a second framer associated with the second plurality of line interface units and specific to the second type of physical medium, said second framer receiving the second signals output from the second plurality of line interface units and reconstructing second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol; and a second universal frame mapper associated with the second framer, said second universal frame mapper receiving the second frames formatted according to the second physical layer protocol and assembling second universal frames for processing in common with the first universal frames by the network device; an optical line interface unit interfaced with an optical transmission medium; and switching circuitry interconnected between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers to switch Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) frames between the optical line interface unit and the first and second universal frame mappers. - View Dependent Claims (2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10)
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11. A network device, comprising:
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a first plurality of line interface units interfaced with first metallic links of a first type over which data is formatted for transmission using a first physical layer protocol; a first physical framer associated with the first line interface units to receive first signals from the first plurality of line interface units and create, from the first signals, first physical frames; a first GFP frame mapper associated with the first physical framer to receive the first physical frames and reassemble GFP frames therefrom without regard to a service associated with the physical frames; a second plurality of line interface units interfaced with second metallic links of a second type over which data is formatted for transmission using a second physical layer protocol; a second physical framer associated with the second line interface units to receive second signals from the second plurality of line interface units and create, from the second signals, second physical frames; a second GFP frame mapper associated with the second physical framer to receive the second physical frames and reassemble GFP frames therefrom without regard to a service associated with the physical frames; an optical line interface unit interfaced with an optical transmission medium; and switching circuitry interconnected between the optical line interface unit and the first and second GFP frame mappers to switch Generic Framing Procedure (GFP) frames between the optical line interface unit and the first and second GFP frame rappers. - View Dependent Claims (12, 13)
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Specification